Foot control for automobiles



Octn '27, 192s.

o. E. BARTHEL. Er AL FOQT CONTROL FOR AUTOHOBILES Filed Oct. 4, 1924anemia tiet.,

tric;

DLIVER E. BARTI-IEL .iND JOHN W. IVICCREA, OF DETROIT, MCHIGAN. i

FOUT CONTRDL FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed October Il, 1924.

To all 'whom may conce/la:

Be it known that we, Onrvnn Buurman and JOHN W. lvcCnnA, citizens oi theUnited States, residing at Detroit, in the county ot lVayne and Stateoi' -Michigaiu have invented certain newk and useful linv proveimnitsAin Foot Controls for Antonio-V being held in an unnatural position when`actuating or when in readiness to actuate a lever or device, and where,due to toot weariness on the part oi the operator or to the vibration ofthe automobile, undesirable pressure upon or actuation of the said leveror device is liable to occur with consequent interference with theproper oontrol o't the automobile.

For such purposes the use of pedals in the Yform of auxiliary tootplates rockably or hingedly mounted with the toe portion extending overthe lever, rod or device to he operated thereby have been suggested, butalthough these devices do in some cases tend to cause the foot to assumea more nearly natural position which is more restful to the toot of anoperator, they do not e'l'lec# tively overcome the tendency to exertpressure on the levers or devices at undesirable times such as whensubjected to the influence ot the vibration ot the automobile.

lt is, theretore, an object yoli this invention to provide a devicewhich will meet these requirements in a very eflieient man ner and-which will consequently `hicilitate the proper l'oot control ot anautomobile to which, it is applied.

A truther object is to provide i'or the resilieiu` support oit a 'toutpedal adapted for the control oi" atout lever, rod or devire` the saidresilient support yieldingly tending to retain the slid pedal' in anormal. .inoperative position and to thereby support and relieve thestrain upon the toot or' an operator. p

rlhe invention further purposes to provide a device for the purposes setforth Serial No. 741,542.

whereinaJ foot pedal is hingedly mounted approximate to the heel portionthereof, with the toc portion adapted to extend over a device to beoperated thereby, and `re silientmeans bearing upwardly against theunderside ot the said pedal.

Still Yturther objects subsidiary to. orl resulting 'from the aforesaidobjects, or from the construction or operation of the invention as itmay be carried into effect, will become apparentk as the saiddnventionis hereinafter further disclosedj v In carrying the said invention intoetliect, we may provide a toot zpcdal inthe form oit a foot-plate havinghinged beneath the heel portion thereo'll a member or support whichyextends downwardly there- :trom to the toot-board or other surface towhich the device is tobe att-ached, the said support having a baseadapted to be secured to the said toot-board in any suitable manner,said base being extended Aforwardly and upwardly in the term of a platespring towardkthe center or tread` portion of the toot-plate andprovided with adjustable means engaging the underside of the said treadportion by the adjustment of which means the resistance of the saidspring to the depression of' the said foot pedal may be increasedordecreased The foot pedal is adapted to be situated for use with thetoe portion there-otv extending over errattached to a lever, rod orotherdevice which it is intended to operate, the arrangement beingpreferably such that the said foot pedalwhen applied to aninclinedtootboard normally lies in a plane approximately parallel with the planeof the said ootboard whereby the footot an operator may be supported inan easy andl natural position. i l

All of which is ymore particularly dcscribed and ascertainedhereinafter, by way of example, having reference to the aecompanyingdrawing, wherein Figure l a plan of a `foot pedal cow structed inaccordance with the'said inveu tion, parts et the rubber facing thereofboing broken away;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section oit' the same;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same;

Figure e is a side elevation of the said.

Figure 5 is a fragmentar ydetail sectional illustration showing amodified form of the resilient foot-plate support;

Figure G is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the foot-board andadjacent parts of an automobile having the improved foot pedal appliedthereto and adapted to actuate the accelerator thereof; and

Figure 7 is a similar view to Figure G, illustrating the application ofthe invention to the control of a. clutch pedal.

Similar characters of reference indicate similar parts in the severalfigures of the drawing.

The foot pedal comprises a foot plate 1 provided at the heel end with araised flange 2 for the positioning of the heel of an operator and inits intermediate portion with upwardly pressed abutments Sadapted toprevent forward slipping of the heel on the said plate; and t is anupwardly extending` lateral lug preventing side motion of the foot onthe said foot-plate. The said footplate is recessed at 5 and G for thereception of no'n-slip rubber or other inserts 7 and 8. All of thesefeatures may however be varied to suit matters of taste, conveniences ofmanufacture or questions of expense as may be found necessary ordesirable and are not regarded as essential to the invention.

Struck downwardly from the heel portion of the said foot-plate are lugs9 which support the pintle 1() of a hinge 11 on the upper end of asupport 12. Y This support preferably forms an integral part of a platehaving a base 13, perforated at 1st whereby it may be attached by screwsto the floorboardv 16 of an automobile, and also having a forwardly andupwardly extending portion 17 in the form of a plate spring, the outerend of which is provided with a bolt 1S passing therethrough, the head19 of which bolt bears on the underside of the tread portion of the saidfoot plate.

20 and 21 are nuts by the manipulation of which the said bolt may beadjusted upwardly or downwardly in the member 17 and its bearing on theunderside of the said foot-plate thereby varied so that the resistanceof the spring member 17 to the depression of the said foot-plate may beincreased or decreased to suit requirements and whereby also the normalelevation of the toe portion of the said foot-plate may be varied.

One of the principal applications of the said device is to anaccelerator rod 22 as shown in Figure 6, whereby the resistance of thespring member 17 tends to prevent undesired pressure being exerted onthe said accelerator rod, particularly due to vibration of the car, anda more even control of the automobile is thereby secured.

In Figure 7 the application of the device to a clutch pedal 3 isillustrated, the free end of the said clutch pedal bein-,e` provided.

with a pin ist which works in the slotI 25 of a slotted projection 26 onthe underside of the toe portion of the pedal.

in this case the tendency which many drivers often experience tounconsciously press down the clutch pedal while driving and thereby moreor less close the clutch and wear or burn the lining thereof is almostcompletely overcome, the advantages of resting the foot being alsomaintained as in connection with the application of the pedal to theoperation of other levers, rods or devices.

In Figure 5 a substitute for the adjustable bolt 1S is indicated whereina bolt 27 is illustrated having adjusting nuts 28 and Q9, the boltsupporting a resilient button comprising a piston member SO slidablyhoused in a hollow cylindrical casing 31 which encloscs a compressionspring 32, the upper surface of the said casing being denied to reducethe area of contact with the underside of the foot-plate. This spring 32may either act in an auxiliary capacity to the member 17, or the member17 in this case may be more or less rigid and the spring 32 forni thesole or main yielding means for the said footplate as will be readilyunder-stood, but in the illustrated device Figure 5, the resiliency ismainly attained by the fact that the casing is in the form of an airenclosing dash pot.

It will be seen that the described arrangement includes a combinationfoot-plate,

bracket and spring, wherein the foot-plate is adjustable for variousheights of levers, rods or devices to which it is to be applied, and issubjected to spring tension to resist the el'lects of vibration and actsas a stabilizer to the device. In other words, the device comprises aresiliently mounted foot rest peculiarly adapted to the control of footlevers or similar devices in automobiles.

This invention may be developed within the scope of the following claimswit-hout departing from the essential features of the said invention,and it is desired that the specification and drawing be read as beingmerely illustrative and not in a limiting sense, except as necessitatedby the prior art.

lVhat we claim is 1. A device of the class described, comprising afoot-plate, a support hingedly secured to the rear part of said plate,stabilizing means yieldingly bearing on the underside of said plateforward of said support, and adjustable means varying the resilientelevation of said stabilizing means on said foot plate.

2. A device of the class described coinprising a foot-plate, a supporthingedly secured thereto, and vertically adjustable stabilizing meanscarried by said support and yieldingly bearing on the underside of saidfoot-plate forward thereof.

253. lu combination with the foot lever of an automobile, a resilientlymounted foot rest operably engaging said lever, and adjustable meanslregulating the normal eleva tion of said foot rest.

4T. In Combination with the foot lever of an automobile, a resilientlymounted ioot rest, a support attaoliable to the foot-board of suehautomobile mounting said rest operably engaging said lever, andadjustable means Varying the elevation of the lever engaging end of saidfoot rest.

5. In a device of the class described, a toot plat-e7 and means hlngedlyand resiliently supporting said foot plate, said means comprising asingle metallic member having its rear end bent upwardly to liingedlyengage tlie heel portion of said foot plate, its intermediate portionbeing adapted to be secured to the foot board of an automobile and itsforward end extended upwardly and forwardly to form a resilient supportfor the forward part of said foot plate, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.-

OLIVER E.' BARTI-IEL. JOHN W. MCCREA.

